Earth calamities and Rumors of war

[jgr]

In memory of the USS Liberty

https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2018/06/09/israel-completely-owns-america-subject-people/

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

I am starting this thread to catalogue Earth calamities like earthquakes,volcanoes, storms etc and rumors of war, and to discuss their possible impact on eschatology.Please post anything that is related to this OP.

I guess it is time to repost the OP.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Kushner and Greenblatt to visit the region

Kushner and Greenblatt to visit the region

U.S. Special Representative for International Negotiations, Jason Greenblatt, and President Donald Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, are due to arrive in the region next week in an attempt to move the American peace initiative forward, Channel 10 News reported on Tuesday.

According to the report, the two will visit Jerusalem, Cairo and Riyadh as they prepare to present the Trump administration’s peace plan.

It was also reported that the two are interested in hearing final ideas before the plan is completed and are searching for suitable timing for the publication of the plan.

However, it remains difficult to see how the Americans will make such a plan public in the near future, as the Palestinian Arabs continue to boycott them.

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas has refused to consider the Trump administration an honest broker for peace negotiations with Israel since Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last December.

PA officials have repeatedly rejected the Trump administration’s peace proposal, claiming it has been coordinated with Israel.

Kushner and Greenblatt do not intend to stop in Ramallah during next week’s visit, nor have they been scheduled to meet with any representative from the Palestinian Arab side.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

How Suicide Quietly Morphed Into a Public Health Crisis

How Suicide Quietly Morphed Into a Public Health Crisis

The deaths of the designer Kate Spade and the chef Anthony Bourdain, both of whom committed suicide this week, were not simply pop culture tragedies. They were the latest markers of an intractable public health crisis that has been unfolding in slow motion for a generation.

Treatment for chronic depression and anxiety — often the precursors to suicide — has never been more available and more widespread. Yet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week reported a steady, stubborn rise in the national suicide rate, up 25 percent since 1999.

The rates have been climbing each year across most age and ethnic groups. Suicide is now the 10th leading cause of death in the United States. Nearly 45,000 Americans killed themselves in 2016, twice the number who died by homicide.

After decades of research, effective prevention strategies are lacking. It remains difficult, perhaps impossible, to predict who will commit suicide, and the phenomenon is extremely difficult for researchers to study.

One of the few proven interventions is unpalatable to wide swaths of the American public: reduced access to guns. The C.D.C. report found that the states where rates rose most sharply were those, like Montana and Oklahoma, where gun ownership is more common.

It is predominantly men who use guns to commit suicide, and men are much less likely to seek help than women.

The escalating suicide rate is a profound indictment of the country’s mental health system. Most people who kill themselves have identifiable psychiatric symptoms, even if they never get an official diagnosis.

The rise in suicide rates has coincided over the past two decades with a vast increase in the number of Americans given a diagnosis of depression or anxiety, and treated with medication.

The number of people taking an open-ended prescription for an antidepressant is at a historic high. More than 15 million Americans have been on the drugs for more than five years, a rate that has more than tripled since 2000.

But if treatment is so helpful, why hasn’t its expansion halted or reversed suicide trends?

“This is the question I’ve been wrestling with: Are we somehow causing increased morbidity and mortality with our interventions?” said Dr. Thomas Insel, former director of the National Institute of Mental Health and now president of Mindstrong Health, which makes technology to monitor people with mental health problems.

“I don’t think so,” Dr. Insel continued. “I think the increase in demand for the services is so huge that the expansion of treatment thus far is simply insufficient to make a dent in what is a huge social change.”

Drug trials and other randomized studies are virtually useless for capturing measurable effects on suicide. Most drug trials explicitly exclude subjects deemed a suicide risk; even when they don’t, the studies don’t last long enough to say anything definitive about who commits suicide.

But one recent study, by Danish researchers, supported the benefits of therapeutic intervention.

Using detailed medical records, the investigators studied more than 5,500 people who had been treated for deliberate self-harm, including cutting and clear suicide attempts.

Over decades, the portion of those people who got psychotherapy at suicide clinics were about 30 percent less likely to die or commit further self-harm than those who did not.

“I personally think that it’s the quality of care that matters, not the quantity,” Dr. Insel said. “We need more access, better measures and better quality of care.”

But in this country, many of those who commit suicide have received little or no professional help. Indeed, they rarely tell anyone beforehand of their plan — when there is one. Often the act is impulsive.

According to Matthew Nock, a professor of psychology at Harvard, the wide majority of people who die by suicide “explicitly deny suicidal thoughts or intentions in their last communications before dying.”

Andrew Spade, Ms. Spade’s husband, said she had seemed fine when he’d talked to her just before her suicide. Mr. Bourdain was filming one of his clever, humorous shows in Strasbourg, France, when his body was discovered.

The rise of suicide turns a dark mirror on modern American society: its racing, fractured culture; its flimsy mental health system; and the desperation of so many individual souls, hidden behind the waves of smiling social media photos and cute emoticons.

Some experts fear that suicide is simply becoming more acceptable. “It’s a hard idea to test, but it’s possible that a cultural script may be developing among some segments of our population,” said Julie Phillips, a sociologist at Rutgers.

Prohibitions are apparently loosening in some quarters, she said. Particularly among younger people, Dr. Phillips said, “We are seeing somewhat more tolerant attitudes toward suicide.”

In surveys, younger respondents are more likely than older ones “to believe we have the right to die under certain circumstances, like incurable disease, bankruptcy, or being tired of living,” she said.

The cultural currents that deepen despair and increase the chances of suicide have long been staples of sociological debate.

The social scientists Christopher Lasch and Robert Putnam identified postwar influences that have corroded the fabric of local everyday life — the block parties, church meetings, family barbecues and civic groups that once bound people against solitude and abandonment.

More recently, the economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton of Princeton have argued that the hollowing out of the economy and loss of middle and working class supports, like unions, have contributed to a broad increase in self-reported pain in those groups, both mental and physical.

The aggressive marketing of opioids by Purdue Pharma and others eased some of that pain — and helped create a generation of addicts, tens of thousands of whom die each year. Opioids are the third most common drugs found in the systems of suicides, after alcohol and anti-anxiety medications like Xanax, the C.D.C. reported.

A decline in marriage rates has likely played a role, as well. In her research, Dr. Phillips has found that in 2005 single middle-aged women were as much as 2.8 times more likely to kill themselves than married women, and their single male peers 3.5 times more likely than married men to do the same.

“In contrast to homicide and traffic safety and other public health issues, there’s no one accountable, no one whose job it is to prevent these deaths — no one who gets fired if these numbers go from 45,000 to 50,000,” Dr. Insel said.

“It’s shameful. We would never tolerate that in other areas of public health and medicine.”

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

ANALYSIS: Winds of war as Iran axis prepares for Golan offensive

ANALYSIS: Winds of war as Iran axis prepares for Golan offensive

On Sunday, the Israeli military launched a massive surprise drill in the Golan Heights involving a large number of reservists who were ordered to report for immediate duty and to show up in full gear.

In a statement, the IDF claimed the exercise had nothing to do “with current events” and was planned “in advance as part of the 2018 training schedule,” while the army warned residents of the mountainous plateau they could expect hearing “loud explosions” and “increasing traffic of vehicles.”

The statement was most likely meant to reduce tensions in the region and to prevent further escalation toward war after the Iranian-backed pro-Assad coalition started to prepare for a large-scale offensive against the various rebel groups in the border area with Jordan and Israel.

The final preparations for the offensive in southern Syria started after talks between Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US army, and Russia's chief of the military's General Staff, Gen. Valery Gerasimov, about the situation in the so-called de-confliction zones reportedly failed to produce concrete results.

Dunford and Gerasimov met in the Finnish capital Helsinki where they tried to “avoid miscalculation and to promote transparency and de-confliction in areas,” a U.S. statement said without further elaboration.

The Israeli and Jordanian border regions in Daraa and Quneitra are one of the two de-confliction zones in Syria.

On Monday the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (ACDFRL) reported that the so-called Al Gaith division of the Syrian armed forces had already captured the city of Baath on the Syrian Golan Heights and were now less than two kilometers away from the Israeli border.

ACDFRL published images of Syrian soldiers in Baath who were preparing for an offensive against mainly Islamist rebel groups in the Kuneitra province as well as photos from a large military parade held by the Free Syrian Army in Bosra al-Sham in the Daraa province.

“As forces mass on both sides, large scale fighting seems inevitable in upcoming days,” according to Forensic Research Lab which also warned the offensive could prompt Israeli strikes.

Later on Monday, local media reported attacks on “militants” in the Eastern Daraa country side and a deadly offensive against Islamic State hubs in the al-Suweida province east of Daraa, which is home to a large Druse minority in Syria.

At the same time it became clear Iran and Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad were playing their favourite deceit game with Israel and Western powers such as France.

After Assad last month said there were no Iranian troops in Syria, he now says Iran’s presence in the country is non-negotiable.

During an interview with Al-Alam TV in Iran, the Syrian dictator also said “he would not object to the establishment of a permanent Iranian military base within his country's borders if such a base is necessary.”

Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani, meanwhile, indulged in double speak about Iran’s activities in Syria.

Rouhani told French president Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday he didn’t rule out an Iranian withdrawal from Syria once the “roots of terrorism” are destroyed.

At the same time, the Iranian president defended Iran’s growing presence in Syria and said the presence of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps in Syria “is quite legal and based on the official request of the Syrian government with an aim of fighting terrorism.”

Rouhani and Assad were subsequently exposed as liars by the head of IDF Intelligence Directorate Maj.-Gen. Tamir Heyman, who told a closed forum of international security experts on Wednesday that Iran’s ‘counter-terrorism’ excuse for setting up bases throughout Syria is a hoax.

Heyman showed the experts a map with Iranian bases in Syria which are all built in ‘liberated’ areas where there is no longer any military threat to the Syrian regime.

“You probably think it’s because they are trying to help the Assad regime fight extremists, fight terror. Well, get ready for a surprise: In all these places on the map there has been no fighting going on for half a month,” Heyman was quoted as saying by Israeli broadcaster Kan.

The Israeli military, meanwhile, not only held a surprise drill on the Golan Heights, but also continued its attacks on Iranian related targets in Syria.

On Tuesday, Sky News Arabic reported new IAF strikes on Hezbollah positions and weapon depots in the Qalamoun Mountains near the Lebanese border.

A major battle between the rebels and Iranian backed forces along the Israeli and Jordanian border seems unavoidable after commanders of the various anti-Assad militias rejected a Russian proposal to start ‘peace talks’.

The pro-Assad coalition has now issued a 48-hour-long ultimatum to the rebel groups about the peace talks, but chances are slim they will give in since most of them are hard-core Islamist or even Jihadist movements who prefer to confront the army of their foe and fight to the death.

The imminent large-scale offensive will first be aimed at the liberation of the so-called Death Triangle which connects Daraa and Quneitra with west Damascus and will reportedly include the involvement of Iranian backed militias such as Hezbollah.

The Iranians deceived Russia and other international players by sending their proxy Hezbollah back to the border region disguised as Syrian army soldiers after an initial withdrawal, the Wall Street Journal reported last week.

"They are leaving … in their Hezbollah uniforms and they are returning in regime vehicles and dressed in regular [Syrian] army uniforms,” Ahmad Azam a commander of a rebel group in Quneitra told the American paper.

The Lebanese terror group also refuses to concede to the Russian request to vacate a number of bases in southwest Syria.

All this is known to the Israeli military, an unnamed Israeli official told WSJ.

"You can be sure that Israel is very much aware of basically everything happening in our backyard," the official said.

Largest hospital in northern Israel prepares for war

Largest hospital in northern Israel prepares for war

An emergency drill conducted Thursday at Rambam Health Care Campus rehearsed the scenario of a missile attack on the Haifa area, forcing the only referral hospital in the north to transfer operations to the Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital.

This unique facility, the largest of its kind in the world, normally operates as the hospital's parking lot, but in wartime transforms into a 2,000-bed medical facility within 72 hours. In a wartime scenario, this facility becomes the regional hospital for all wounded in the north.

As part of the drill, the hospital practiced several scenarios, some based on lessons from the Second Lebanon War, when Rambam operated under continuous fire. That experience led to construction of the underground facility, ensuring the ability to care for patients in a safe and secure environment.

During the first scenario, following receipt of an early warning, the Haifa region was placed on high alert and a decision made to evacuate the hospital departments to the underground facility.

For this drill, logistical preparations included activating air purifiers and compressors, power generators, and air conditioning systems embedded in the walls of the underground hospital/parking lot, and the deployment of toilets, temporary showers, and the rest of the infrastructure to become patient-ready.

Medical teams then practiced transferring patients in their hospital beds and accompanying medical equipment to designated stations underground. This included the transfer of advanced life-saving equipment such as dialysis units, and surgical equipment.

In the event of an emergency situation, the underground hospital is expected to absorb hundreds of oncology patients, pregnant women, dialysis patients and more—all of whom require ongoing medical care while the region is under fire.

The second scenario during the drill involved a situation in which missiles hit the hospital with no warning, damaging hospital departments. This exercise involved evacuating the wounded to Rambam’s Department of Emergency Medicine, which is also fortified, and will continue to function during wartime. After initial triage, the wounded were then transferred to the underground hospital for ongoing care.

The third and final drill addressed absorption of patients arriving from outside of Rambam. In this scenario, patients were being transferred by ambulance to the underground hospital. Ambulances drove in via the parking lot entrance and discharged the wounded there, to minimize exposure to the outside danger. The patients were received by medical teams who then transferred them, as appropriate to the protected emergency department (via an underground elevator), or elsewhere to the respective underground hospitalization area.

The drill also served as a first-time test of the functionality of Rambam’s new underground Command Center from which all emergency activities were managed. The Command Center was inaugurated one month ago thanks to a generous million-dollar donation from the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.

The center enables essential hospital management and expert personnel who are responsible for directing the flow of patients based on injury severity, logistical needs, function of vital systems, and more. All critical information is gathered from the hospital's monitoring systems and analyzed by a proprietary emergency software system developed at Rambam. The emergency administration team can observe above ground activity with the help of hundreds of cameras installed throughout the hospital campus.

Observers of the drill included Magen David Adom officials, the Home Front Command, and the Emergency Division at the Ministry of Health, in addition to 22 international participants of Rambam’s 19th Developing and Organizing a Trauma System and Mass Casualty Management Course, which ended today. The aim of the course was to provide participants with the knowledge and training to implement a trauma management and emergency system in their home nations.

"After two months of dealing with an impossible scenario of treating the sick and wounded under fire, we decided that this reality could not be repeated," said Rambam Director Professor Rafi Beyar.

"About five years ago, the underground hospital at Rambam was inaugurated. This facility is of strategic importance for the entire northern region. I hope we will never have to use it, but if the day comes, we will be ready for any scenario."

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

U.S. says to work with allies to cut Iran oil imports

U.S. says to work with allies to cut Iran oil imports

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States is prepared to work with countries on a case by case basis to help them reduce imports of Iranian oil as Washington prepares to reimpose sanctions against Tehran in November, a State Department official said on Thursday, suggesting the Trump administration could offer waivers.

A senior State Department official said this week that countries will need to cut their imports of Iranian oil to zero from November and exemptions are unlikely.

“Our focus is to work with those countries importing Iranian crude oil to get as many of them as possible down to zero by November 4,” a State Department official told Reuters, adding: “We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case by case basis.”

Senior Trump administration officials have visited European nations this week and will head to the Middle East and Asia later to pressure countries to reduce their oil supplies from Iran. Washington hopes it will force Tehran to negotiate a follow-up agreement to halt its nuclear program.

President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from what he called a “defective” nuclear deal agreed between Iran and six world powers in July 2015.

That deal sought to curb Tehran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for the lifting of some sanctions. Trump ordered the reimposition of U.S. sanctions against Iran that were suspended under the accord.

“We are serious about our efforts to pressure Iran to change its threatening behavior,” the official said on Thursday.

Administration officials said they will press Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states next week to ensure there are enough global oil supplies once sanctions are reimposed on Iran. They did not elaborate on how much additional global supply was needed.

Officials have yet to hold talks with China and India, among the largest importers of Iran’s oil, as well as Turkey and Iraq.

After protests, Iran's Khamenei demands punishment for those who harm economy

After protests, Iran's Khamenei demands punishment for those who...

With the economy facing the prospect of new U.S. sanctions, the country’s leadership signaled it was taking a united front toward the unrest. In a speech, President Hassan Rouhani, a pragmatist who has long sought more open economic relations with the outside world, blamed Washington for Iran’s hardship, calling on Iranians to “bring America to its knees”.

At Tehran’s Grand Bazaar on Wednesday, business was back to normal after the two-day strike had closed most shops.

On Monday traders had massed outside parliament to complain about the plunge to record lows of Iran’s currency. Reuters was unable to verify footage that showed police clashing with protesters. Public demonstrations are rare in Iran but in recent months there have been several over the state of the economy.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the hardline cleric in power since 1989, demanded the judiciary punish those “who disrupt economic security”, in remarks clearly intended to send a message to Iranians who may plan more demonstrations.

“The atmosphere for the work, life and livelihood of the people must be secure,” he said in a meeting with judiciary officials, according to his official website. “And the judiciary must confront those who disrupt economic security.”

The bazaar strike is the biggest sign of domestic disquiet in Iran since the United States abandoned a deal to lift economic sanctions in return for curbs to Tehran’s nuclear program. The deal was the centerpiece of Rouhani’s plans to open Iran’s economy, which won him two landslide elections but has yet to bring widespread economic benefits for many Iranians.

Washington has pledged even tighter sanctions than before, although its European allies and other world powers say they still support the nuclear deal.

“We will take problems. We will take pressure. But we will not sacrifice our independence,” said Rouhani in an address broadcast on state television.

In the latest U.S. push against Tehran, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday that countries buying oil from Iran should prepare to halt all imports of it starting in November or face punishment.

IMPORT COSTS RISE
The threat of restored U.S. sanctions has caused the rial to collapse, hurting business by driving up the cost of imports. The rial traded at 78,500 against the dollar in the unofficial market on Wednesday, according to foreign exchange website Bonbast.com. This compares to around 43,000 at the end of last year.

“It should surprise no one #IranProtests continue. People are tired of the corruption, injustice & incompetence of their leaders. The world hears their voice,” tweeted U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

An Iranian oil official dismissed U.S. efforts to squeeze Iran’s oil industry.

“Iran exports a total amount of 2.5 million barrels per day of crude and condensate, and eliminating it easily and in a period of a few months is impossible,” the official told the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

Trump’s determination to deprive Iran of funding raises the stakes for Rouhani, who has attempted to appease anger over his government’s handling of the economy.

The Iranian parliament showed the level of discontent over Rouhani’s performance, issuing a letter, signed by 187 representatives — more than half of the total — asking that the president change his administration’s economic team.

Mehrdad Emadi, an Iranian economist who heads energy risk analysis at London’s Betamatrix consultancy, estimated U.S. sanctions could cause Iran’s crude oil exports to drop by between 500,000 and 800,000 bpd in coming months.

He said a fall below 1.4 million bpd — the level two years ago, before the nuclear deal — was unlikely as Iran would remain able to sell some oil abroad through barter deals. Turkey said on Wednesday it did not consider itself bound by the U.S. effort to stop Iran exporting oil.

But the sanctions may stifle Iran’s long-term plans to expand its oil industry. After a deal reached this month among global oil producers to raise output, Saudi Arabia and Russia look set to take market share from Iran.

“Iran is in a weaker position to cope with these sanctions than it was during the last sanctions period two years ago,” Emadi said.

Then, Iran had some $150 billion of currency stored abroad in countries such as China and Turkey as well as European banks. Detailed figures for foreign exchange reserves are secret, but Tehran has now drawn down much of that buffer to handle expenses such as capital flight and foreign intervention, Emadi said.

He predicted Iran might ultimately enter a fresh recession as lower oil revenues prompted the government to put public sector projects on hold and as the economy became more militarized in response to U.S. pressure.

A downturn in growth could worsen bad debt problems in the banking sector, which the International Monetary Fund has warned could destabilize the economy.

Iran reopens uranium feedstock plant in preparation to boost enrichment

Iran reopens uranium feedstock plant in preparation to boost...

LONDON (Reuters) - Iran has reopened a nuclear plant idle for nine years, its atomic energy agency (AEOI) said on Wednesday, as Tehran prepares to increase uranium enrichment capacity if a nuclear deal with world powers falls apart after the U.S. withdrawal.

U.S.-Iranian tensions have resurged since President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear accord, calling it deeply flawed. Under the deal, Iran restricted its enrichment program to ease concerns it could not be put to developing nuclear weapons and in return won relief from sanctions.

European signatories are trying to save the accord, which they see as crucial to forestalling an Iranian nuclear weapon. However, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ordered the AEOI this month to start preparations to upgrade enrichment capacity in case the European efforts fail.

The AEOI said on Wednesday that in response to Khamenei’s order and Trump’s renunciation of the deal, a plant for the production of UF6, the feedstock for centrifuge machines that enrich uranium, had been relaunched and a barrel of yellow cake has been delivered there.

Uranium ore, known as yellow cake, is converted into a gas called uranium hexafluoride (UF6) before enrichment.

The UF6 factory, which had been inactive since 2009 due to a lack of yellow cake, is part of the Isfahan uranium conversion facility, according to AEOI’s statement on its website.

“Iran has imported a huge amount of yellow cake since the nuclear deal” in 2015, and had also produced some domestically.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog that is policing Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal, said on June 5 that the AEOI had informed it of “tentative” plans to resume production of UF6.

The move is symbolic and permissible under the nuclear deal, which allows Iran to enrich uranium to 3.67 percent, far below the 90 percent of weapons-grade uranium, and caps its stock of enriched uranium hexafluoride at 300 kilograms (660 pounds).

President Hassan Rouhani has written to counterparts in France, Germany and Britain, warning that time to salvage the nuclear deal is running out.

Rouhani’s chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, was quoted as saying on Wednesday by the government’s website that Rouhani had expressed Iran’s demands “very clearly” in this letter.

Washington will start reimposing some economic penalties on Tehran in August and more in November.

The tightening of U.S. sanctions pressure has set Washington and Tehran, adversaries since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution, back on a course of confrontation after a period of cautious detente under Trump’s predecessor Barack Obama. Rouhani urged Iranians on Wednesday to “bring America to its knees”.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[Handmaid for Jesus]

There is a new Island of the North Carolina coast.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Netanyahu: Pass nation-state bill into law

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/PM-Pass-nation-state-bill-into-law-561285

The time has come to complete the process of legislating the controversial Jewish nation-state bill, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the heads of the parties in his coalition in a meeting on Monday.

The Jewish nation-state bill is a draft Basic Law with constitutional heft that declares that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. It has been on and off of the Knesset’s agenda in various forms since 2011, when then-Kadima MK Avi Dichter, now of Likud, proposed it.

The bill was authorized for a first reading in the plenum in March, without some of its most contentious elements, in a last-minute move before the Knesset’s Passover recess. Netanyahu wants it passed in its final readings by the next recess, which begins in July.

The bill would also anchor in law the state symbol, Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, the connection with Diaspora Jewry, national holidays, and the right of all Israeli residents to preserve their heritage without difference of religion and nationality.

Dichter welcomed Netanyahu’s decision, calling the bill the flagship legislation of Likud. He warned the other parties in the coalition that if they wanted their bills passed, the Jewish nation-state bill must pass first.

Tourism Minister Yariv Levin will conduct shuttle diplomacy between party heads on Netanyahu’s behalf this week to draft a final version of the bill that all the parties could support.

“This is one of the most important bills the Knesset has ever considered,” Levin said. “It expresses the deep foundations of Zionism on which the state was built."

UN expert: Israel moving closer to formal West Bank annexation

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-...-closer-to-formal-West-Bank-annexation-561314

Israel has taken steps that could lead to the formal annexation of the West Bank, UN legal expert Michael Lynk said in advance of Monday’s United Nations Human Rights Council meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“After years of creeping Israeli de facto annexation of the large swathes of the West Bank through settlement expansion, the creation of closed military zones and other measures, Israel appears to be getting closer to enacting legislation that will formally annex parts of the West Bank,” Lynk said.

His words were posted Friday on the web site of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

“This would amount to a profound violation of international law, and the impact of ongoing settlement expansion on human rights must not be ignored,” Lynk said.

In the past few years, the international community has grown increasingly concerned about Israeli actions, which it holds are tantamount to de-facto annexation.

This includes actions by right-wing politicians to increasingly apply Israeli law to Area C of the West Bank, including the Settlement Regulation Law, which would retroactively legalize settler homes on private Palestinian land in exchange for monetary compensation.

The High Court of Justice is adjudicating the legality of that law.

Lynk, who is the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, had spent time last week in Amman, Jordan, collecting information for a report he plans to present to the UN General Assembly 73rd session in October. He worked out of Amman because Israel, which argues that he holds a biased mandate, did not allow him entry into the West Bank.

“This is my third mission to the region since I assumed the mandate in May 2016, and the reports I received this week have painted the bleakest picture yet of the human rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory,” he said.

Lynk spoke against Israeli restriction on Palestinian movement in the West Bank, night raids and the lack of building approvals.

The pending demolition of the Palestinian Beduin herding village of Khan al-Ahmar in Area C is part of a policy of forced transfer, Lynk warned.

“Its residents are living in a coercive environment that may lead to forcible transfer, not knowing where they may find themselves in the coming months and not knowing if they will be living in a place where they are able to continue their traditional way of life,” he said.

With regard to east Jerusalem, Lynk warned that the Israeli government and the Jerusalem municipality were advancing a plan to strip 120,000 Palestinians of residency rights.

His upcoming report takes a broad look at Israeli actions against Palestinians and covers much of the same ground that is likely to be raised on Monday at the Agenda Item 7 debate in Geneva as the UNHRC enters the last week of its 38th session.

The US withdrew from the UNHRC last month, in part to protest its anti-Israel bias. It gave up its seat as one of the UNHRC’s 47 members and since then has not attended a session. Israel is similarly boycotting the UNHRC 38th session. Neither country is expected to be in the room during Monday’s Agenda Item 7 debate.

The UNHRC is mandated to debate Israeli alleged human rights abuses at every session under Agenda Item 7. No other country is singled out in this way.

Palestinians planning mass protests against Trump’s peace plan

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-...ass-protests-against-Trumps-peace-plan-561234

Palestinian activists in the West Bank said over the weekend they have received a green light from the Palestinian Authority to organize protests against US President Donald Trump’s yet-to-be-unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East.

The decision to launch the protests came following the recent visit to the region by US envoys Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt. The Palestinians believe the two emissaries, who did not meet with any representative of the Palestinian Authority during their visit, came to the region to lay the final touches on the Trump plan before presenting it to Israel and the Arab countries.

Kushner says U.S. peace plan coming soon after Middle East visit, June 24, 2018 (Reuters)

Trump has referred to his upcoming plan as the “deal of the century,” while PA President Mahmoud Abbas and other Palestinians have denounced it as the “slap of the century.”

The new campaign is seen as the PA leadership’s response to the Hamas-sponsored “March of Return” demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel. The PA leadership is hoping to show that it too is capable of sending Palestinians to the streets to stage protests.

“We believe that the countdown for publicly announcing the Trump plan has begun,” a senior PA official in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post. “This is why we have decided to act quickly in order to thwart this evil plan, which is aimed at liquidating our national rights and the entire Palestinian cause.”

The first protest is expected to take place in Ramallah on Monday.

A group called The National and Islamic Forces on Saturday called on Palestinians to gather in the center of the city to voice their opposition to the Trump plan. The group also urged Palestinians to use the protest to express their support for the PA leadership.

The protest in Ramallah will be followed by similar demonstrations in other Palestinian communities in the coming days and weeks.

Last week, Palestinian activists launched an online campaign with the sole goal of “thwarting” Trump’s plan. The campaign is being waged under the title, “The National Campaign to Down the Deal of the Century.”

Organizers of the campaign said over the weekend they were extremely encouraged by the “widespread support” the drive has received from Palestinians. They claimed more than three million Palestinians have interacted in different ways with the campaign on social media.

“We are planning to expand our activity to as many places as possible in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and our lands that were occupied in 1948,” said a spokesman for the campaign, referring in the last part of his statement to Israel. “We are also hoping to win the support of Palestinians and Arabs living around the world until we achieve our goal.”

The Palestinians, the spokesman added, are capable of foiling the Trump plan in the same way they had thwarted previous “suspicious schemes” directed against the Palestinian people. “The Trump administration will not find one Palestinian loyal to his people and cause who would accept its plan to destroy our rights,” he said.

Abbas’s ruling Fatah faction in the West Bank on Saturday expressed its full support for the campaign against Trump’s “deal of the century.” It also called on Palestinians to participate in the planned protests against the “big US conspiracy.”

“Fatah calls on Palestinians belonging to all Palestinian groups to take part in this new campaign to thwart the deal of the century,” said Osama Qawassmeh, a spokesman for the faction. The Palestinians, he added, see the Trump plan as “ideas coming from [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu.”

Palestinian sources in Ramallah said Fatah has instructed its loyalists in the West Bank to play an active role in the campaign against the Trump plan. Hundreds of Fatah activists have been instructed to participate in the demonstrations, which the faction is hoping to turn into a show of support for Abbas and the PA leadership.

“The planned demonstrations are not only against the Trump peace plan, but are also intended to send a message to the world that the Palestinians stand behind President Abbas and his leadership,” a Ramallah- based political analyst told the Post.

He noted that the PA leadership, which has been facing growing criticism for its refusal to lift its sanctions against the Gaza Strip, is hoping the protests would show that Abbas continues to enjoy widespread support among Palestinians in the West Bank despite his punitive measures against the residents of the coastal enclave.

IN RECENT WEEKS, PA security forces have used force to break up demonstrations in some Palestinian cities in protest against Abbas’s sanctions on the Gaza Strip, which include cutting off salaries to thousands of PA civil servants and forcing thousands others into early retirement. In addition, Abbas has suspended welfare assistance to thousands of families in the Gaza Strip.

Sheikh Ekrimah Sabri, a top Palestinian Islamic cleric, warned on Friday that Trump’s plan was aimed at “prolonging the occupation and liquidating the Palestinian cause.” Sabri, who previously served as the mufti of Jerusalem, said in a sermon during Friday prayers at Aqsa Mosque: “Anyone following the statements of politicians can realize how dangerous the ‘deal of the century’ is. This deal calls for removing Jerusalem from any future negotiations [between Israel and the Palestinians].” Sabri said the Trump plan was also “dangerous” because it is designed to “wipe out the Palestinian refugees’ right of return to their homes.”

The “right of return” refers to the Palestinian demand that Israel allow Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their former homes inside Israel.

Also on Saturday, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated in Nablus to demand that the PA lift the sanctions it imposed last year on the Gaza Strip. The protesters held placards that read: “We want electricity in Gaza” and “With blood, with soul, we redeem you, Gaza!”

Meanwhile, the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported on Saturday that Abbas refused to meet with Kushner in the presence of Arab leaders to discuss the Trump peace plan. The report claimed that the initiative to hold the meeting came from the Americans, who in turn relayed the request to Abbas through Egypt. The PA president rejected the offer to meet with Kushner, dubbing it an “American maneuver aimed at dragging the Palestinians to become part of the so-called ‘deal of the century.’”

 

[Bible2+]

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1393:

The US withdrew from the UNHRC last month, in part to protest its anti-Israel bias.

That bias is quite strong, and not rational.

For why should anyone become hyper-concerned about the Israelis' dispossession of such a small sliver of the Arabs' total land, which stretches all the way from Oman to Morocco? Why not also become hyper-concerned about, for example, the U.S.'s and Canada's dispossession of almost all of the American Indians' land, stretching across North America? Or Australia's and New Zealand's dispossession of almost all of the aborigines' land? Also, why would someone completely reject the Jews' ancestral/historical/Biblical claim to the land of Canaan? Is it possible that anti-Semitism is involved in some way? Why cannot the Jews have even such a small piece of land for themselves, especially after what happened to them in the Holocaust?

Also, the Palestinians are simply Arabs, not their own race which needs their own nation-state. They can live on any Arab land within the truly gigantic Arab territory stretching from Oman to Morocco.

Give the Jews a break, for God's sake.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Poll: Almost a third of US voters think a second civil war is coming soon

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...r-likely-voters-say-rasmussen-poll/740731002/

A war may be brewing within the United States, almost a third of voters say in a poll released Wednesday.

Amid widespread political polarization on issues like immigration and recent public confrontations of Trump administration officials, 31 percent of probable U.S. voters surveyed said they think "it's likely that the United States will experience a second civil war sometime in the next five years."

Democrats at 37 percent were slightly more fearful of a second civil war than Republicans at 32 percent, the poll from Rasmussen Reports found.

While more than half thought it was unlikely the USA would see a second civil war soon, 59 percent of voters were still concerned that opponents of President Donald Trump's policies would resort to violence.

During former President Barack Obama's second year in office, a similar 53% of voters thought those who did not support his policies would turn to violence, according to Rasmussen.

Wednesday's poll also found 53 percent of voters were worried that those critical of the news media's Trump coverage would become violent.

The poll comes as the Trump administration faces harsh backlash over a "zero tolerance" immigration policy that separated more than 2,000 children from their parents who stand accused of entering the United States illegally. Trump signed an executive order last week that aimed to end family separations while maintaining a his strict policy of criminally prosecuting immigrants crossing the border illegally.

Trump administration officials, including White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen and White House adviser Stephen Miller, have faced public confrontation from political opponents protesting the immigration policy and others.

The survey by Rasmussen Reports polled 1,000 likely U.S. voters from June 21 to June 24 with a sampling error of 3 percentage points.

New American Civil War? Some people think it’s already begun

https://www.rt.com/usa/430957-america-new-civil-war-trump/

From celebrities calling on citizens to take to the streets, to members of Congress calling for the public harassment of White House officials, to mob justice at restaurants — is the US heading toward a new kind of Civil War?
Well, some people think the seeds of a new Civil War have already been sown — and in a recent article, University of Tennessee Law Professor Glenn Harlan Reynolds argued in a USA Today column that this new war is indeed “well underway.”

Reynolds was echoing similar comments from political scientist Thomas Schaller who wrote in a recent Bloomberg column that America is “at the beginning of a soft civil war,” and author Tom Ricks who agreed that the country seems to be “lurching” in that direction.

Much of the recent disquiet has been spurred on by the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policies and the decision to separate children from their parents at the US-Mexico border, but things have been bubbling up since Trump took office 18 months ago.

1. ‘God is on our side!’

Representative Maxine Waters (D-California) caused a huge stir last week when she encouraged critics of the White House’s immigration policies to go out and harass members of the Trump administration in public. Waters made an impassioned call for citizens to ensure there would be “no sleep, no peace” for White House officials.

"If you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. You push back on them. Tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere," she said.

But her comments were so extreme and incendiary that it prompted a former secret service agent to call them “dangerous” and warned they “go beyond breaking the norms” of civil discourse and criticized her for “endorsing mob-rule to satisfy a political goal.”

Not long after Waters’ comments, White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders was asked to leave a restaurant in Virginia because she works for the Trump administration.

2. ‘Surround their homes and schools in protest!’
Celebrities are getting in on the action, too, encouraging Americans to take to the streets in the millions to protest the Trump administration.

Last week, comments by actor Peter Fonda put the secret service on alert when he suggested that Trump’s 12-year-old son Barron should be taken from his mother Melania and put “in a cage with pedophiles” and that citizens should “surround the schools” of administration officials’ children in response to the child-separation policy.

Somewhat less dramatically, other Hollywood figures have called for protests and change. Actor John Cusack accused the Trump administration of “fascism” and “torturing” children — while musician Serj Tankian wrote on Instagram that the US is in a state of “utter regression” and that it is time for a “peaceful revolution.”

3. Confederate monuments controversy

The fierce debate over the removal of confederate monuments and symbols across the US epitomizes the current political and social divide and the competing interpretations of American history, with one side believing the monuments revere figures who fought to maintain slavery while the other side believes they honor great patriots.

When white supremacist Dylann Roof killed nine black Americans attending a prayer service in Virginia in 2015, it prompted a movement to have Confederate monuments removed from public spaces across the country. More than 100 publicly-supported monuments and symbols have been removed since 2015 — but not without controversy and counter-protests. While monuments are being removed across the US, other groups are pushing for new ones to be erected.

Last year a ‘Unite the Right’ rally called in protest at the planned removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, Virginia turned violent when a protester drove a car through a crowd of counter-protesters, killing activist Heather Heyer.

4. Media wars, polarization of opinion
All of this social discord is playing out, magnified, on Americans’ TV screens in a way that appears to be exacerbating the problem. Eager to up their ratings, news networks invite the most polarizing of guests for daily screaming matches to be beamed into people’s homes. Far from the days of simply favoring one news channel over another, now if Americans don’t like how something is reported, it instantly becomes “fake news” or “propaganda.”

In his article, Reynolds wrote that news media which “promote shrieking outrage in pursuit of ratings and page views, are making the problem worse” and reminisced about a time when Americans could disagree with each other without hating each other.

5. Stratification of society

While all this is being played out on TV screens and social media, those at the fringes of society are feeling the effects of a sick system perhaps more than anyone. The socio-economic stratification of American society appears more obvious than it has at any time in recent years.

Inequality and rampant police violence against African-Americans prompted the NFL kneeling protests, which turned into a nationwide controversy between Americans who are proud of their flag and national anthem and all they stand for — and those who believe true freedom and justice have not yet come to America. A devastating opioid crisis, one of the highest child poverty rates in the world, and a strict adherence to policies which make the poor poorer and the rich richer, have all helped take anger in America from a simmer to a boil.

Reynolds wrote that part of the problem now is that Americans don’t feel social ties which transcend politics. It’s all us vs. them — and nothing in between. He argues that churches, fraternal organizations and neighborhoods used to cross political lines, but that this America has “shrunk and decayed” and people are increasingly finding their identity only in politics.

YouTube: Are You Ready For The Second American Civil War? by Tim Pool. Cannot post it here because of coarse language.

Alex Jones is as usual scaremongering again saying that Democrats are planning a civil war on July 4th.

These are a handful of examples I can find these last few days. People are considering the possibility of political disputes getting so intense that it might lead to civil war. Personally, if a civil war does break out, it'll be a self fulfilling prophecy as the mainstream media and social media are peddling this for views and to advance their own agendas. This is the end result of everyone being given a soapbox to stand on and spew their views.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Gunfire, clashes amid Iran protests over water scarcity

https://abcnews.go.com/Internationa...re-amid-iran-protests-water-scarcity-56291906

Gunfire erupted as Iranian security forces confronted protesters early Sunday amid demonstrations over water scarcity in the country's south, violence that authorities said wounded at least 11 people, mostly police.

The protests around Khorramshahr, some 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Tehran, come as residents of the predominantly Arab city near the border with Iraq complain of salty, muddy water coming out of their taps amid a yearslong drought.

The unrest there only compounds the wider unease felt across Iran as it faces an economic crisis sparked by President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw America from Tehran's nuclear deal with world powers.

Protests began in Khorramshahr, Abadan and other areas of Iran's oil-rich Khuzestan province on Friday. The demonstrations initially were peaceful, with protesters chanting in both Arabic and Farsi.

But late Saturday and into early Sunday morning, protesters began throwing stones and confronting security forces in Khorramshahr, according to widely shared online videos. State television aired images of rocks and broken glass covering sidewalks, as well as smashed ATMs. Women and children fled as gunfire echoed.

Heavy machine gun fire could be heard in one video showing demonstrators dragging away a man who couldn't walk. Another video appeared to show a man carrying a Kalashnikov assault rifle on the back of a motorcycle near protesters.

State TV reported Sunday afternoon that "peace had returned" to Khorramshahr and an unspecified number of protesters had been arrested. It said some demonstrators carried firearms during the unrest.

It's unclear what sparked the violence. Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told journalists Sunday there had been no deaths. A deputy to Fazli later said the violence wounded one civilian and 10 police officers, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"Such protests are directed by the propaganda of opportunists from places and people that are recognized by us as foes," Fazli said. "You observe how they are fueling such incidents in the foreign media and in the cyberspace these days."

Khorramshahr and the wider Khuzestan province have seen pipeline bombings by Arab separatists in the past. Tens of thousands of civilians and soldiers were killed in the province during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war.

Exacerbating that unrest is the drought. The Iran Meteorological Organization estimates 97 percent of the country faced some form of drought. Analysts also blame government mismanagement for diverting water away from some farmers in favor of others.

"Although Iran has a history of drought, over the last decade, Iran has experienced its most prolonged, extensive and severe drought in over 30 years," said a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, a United Nations agency.

Some 230 people were poisoned in Khuzestan province after a 20-hour water outage in Ramhormoz county led to drinking water not being chlorinated, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Sunday. The protests did not appear to be linked to the poisoning.

The protests overnight came after three days of demonstrations last week in Tehran, including protesters confronting police outside parliament and officers firing tear gas at the demonstrators. The rallies led to the temporary closure of the city's Grand Bazaar.

The anger is fueled by the Iranian rial plunging to 90,000 to the dollar — double the government rate of 42,000 — as people watch their savings dwindle and shopkeepers hold onto some goods, uncertain of their true value.

Similar economic protests roiled Iran and spread to some 75 cities and towns at the end of last year, becoming the largest demonstrations in the country since the months-long rallies following the 2009 disputed presidential election. At least 25 people were killed and nearly 5,000 arrested during the protests in late December and early January, which took place largely in Iran's provinces rather than the capital.

The economic crisis has been fueled by Trump's May 8 decision to pull the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal and restore sanctions. International firms that made billion-dollar deals with Iran largely have pulled out of them, while the U.S. now is demanding its allies stop buying Iranian oil.

Iran's first Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri on Sunday mocked the U.S. for "begging the Saudis" to increase oil production to drive down rising global oil prices. Trump claimed Saturday that Saudi Arabia might increase its production by some 2 million barrels of oil a day after a call with King Salman. Saudi Arabia later acknowledged the call, but did not mention Trump's 2-million-barrel claim.

"If any country attempts to take Iran's place in the oil market in this battle, we will consider it a big treachery to the Iranian nation and the world community and they will surely pay for this betrayal someday," Jahangiri said, without elaborating.

IDF opens fire on Palestinians who breached Gaza border fence

https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-...tinians-who-breached-Gaza-border-fence-561348

IDF troops opened fire on four Palestinians who infiltrated into Israel from the southern Gaza Strip on Monday and tried to set fire to an abandoned army position.

According to the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, the men crossed the perimeter fence into Israel east of Rafah City armed with firecrackers and tried to ignite an abandoned sniper position.

An IDF force identified the group and pursued it, opening fire on them. As a result of the shooting one Palestinian was killed, another critically injured and another arrested and transferred to security officials for interrogation.

The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry reported that the fourth was a 16-year-old who was taken to hospital in moderate condition after being shot in the shoulder.

During the incident, an IDF force reported that shots were fired at them, the military said.

“The force acted quickly against the violation of Israeli sovereignty and the attempt to harm security infrastructures,” read a statement released by the IDF.

“Hamas is responsible for everything in and out of the Gaza Strip and stands behind the attempts to cross the fence and damage security infrastructures. The IDF views these events seriously and will continue to act in a sharp and aggressive manner,” it added.

The incident comes a day after another group of Palestinians breached the border fence in southern Gaza and set afire IDF equipment at an empty sniper outpost before escaping back into the Hamas-run coastal enclave.

Last week, an IDF tank fired at two Palestinian teenagers that the IDF said were trying to infiltrate into Israel from Rafah. One of them, 17-year-old Abdel Fattah Abu Azoum, was hit in the head and fatally wounded, dying several hours later. According to the army, firebombs were found at the scene.

Gazans have been protesting along the border with Israel since March 30 as part of what organizers have called the “Great March of Return.” Over 130 Palestinian protesters have been killed by IDF fire and thousands more injured.

Demonstrators have launched hundreds of kites, balloons and helium-filled latex condoms with incendiary and explosive devices on a daily basis into Israeli territory, sparking fires that have destroyed thousands of acres of farmland, parks and forests.

Hamas officials have said that the protests, which also demand an end to a grinding Israeli and Egyptian blockade on Gaza, will continue until their demands are met.

 

[Bible2+]

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1395:

Democrats at 37 percent were slightly more fearful of a second civil war than Republicans at 32 percent, the poll from Rasmussen Reports found.

Don't the Republicans have all the guns?

So are Democrats going to try all the harder to take all their guns away, so that Democrats don't lose any future civil war?

Wayholka quoted a news article in post #1395:

. . . musician Serj Tankian wrote on Instagram that the US is in a state of "utter regression" and that it is time for a "peaceful revolution."

What does a "peaceful" revolution look like?

Also, this brings up the possibility that instead of there being a future civil war, there could instead (after Trump) be a future revolution, and a violent one, against the federal government, and by Republicans instead of Democrats, if a future federal government, through a future Supreme Court and a future Democratic president and Congress, begins to try to take away guns from Republicans, and tries to outlaw even speaking against homosexuality or abortion.

That is, the "culture wars" could eventually break out into an actual war if a future, Democratic government overplays its hand.

But, thank God, Trump is still keeping the government in check, for now.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Iran tells Trump to stop tweeting about oil prices

https://www.timesofisrael.com/iran-tells-trump-to-stop-tweeting-about-oil-prices/

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran’s representative to OPEC said US President Donald Trump should stop tweeting about wanting lower oil prices, noting that doing so has the opposite effect.

Hossein Kazempour Ardebili was quoted by the oil ministry’s website Thursday as telling Trump to “please stop,” adding that “with your frequent and indecent tweets oil prices have gone up 10 dollars.”

Trump has repeatedly called on the oil cartel to reduce prices. On Wednesday he tweeted that OPEC is “doing little to help,” adding that, “if anything, they are driving prices higher.”

Tehran blames rising prices on US sanctions imposed on Iran and Venezuela, founding members of the cartel. Last month, members of OPEC agreed to pump an additional 1 million barrels of crude daily, a move that should help contain prices.

The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the United States defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2018

On Saturday Trump tweeted that he had received assurances from King Salman of Saudi Arabia that the kingdom will increase oil production, “maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels” in response to turmoil in Iran and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia acknowledged the call took place, but mentioned no production targets.

The US president wrote on Twitter that he had asked the king in a phone call to boost oil production “to make up the difference…Prices to (sic) high! He has agreed!”

US vows to keep oil lanes open after Iran threatens to block key waterway

https://www.timesofisrael.com/us-vo...pen-after-iran-threatens-to-block-key-strait/

The US military on Wednesday reiterated its promise to keep Persian Gulf waterways open to oil tankers, after an Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander vowed to disrupt global oil trade if the US prevents Iran from exporting its own oil.

Capt. Bill Urban, a spokesman for the US military’s Central Command, said that American sailors and its regional allies “stand ready to ensure the freedom of navigation and the free flow of commerce wherever international law allows.”

Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Ismail Kowsari on Wednesday appeared to clarify Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s warning of “consequences” if the United States convinces its allies to stop buying Tehran’s oil.

“If they want to stop Iranian oil exports, we will not allow any oil shipment to pass through the Strait of Hormuz,” Kowsari said, according to the Young Journalists Club (YJC) website.

General Ismail Kowsari, Deputy Commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Tharallah base, seen on Al-Alam TV on September 27, 2017. (YouTube screenshot/Middle East Media Research Institute)
Rouhani said Tuesday that regional oil supply could be jeopardized if the US continues to pressure Iran.

“It would be meaningless that Iran cannot export its oil while others in the region can. Do this if you can and see the consequences,” he said according to an English-language report of his statements provided by Iran’s Press TV.

When pressured in the past, Iran has threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which one-third of the world’s oil supply passes.

Since the US pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran, known officially as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Washington has been pushing allies to cut oil imports from the Islamic Republic altogether by November.

The Trump administration vowed Monday to stick with its pressure campaign against Iran, affirming its strategy to change Tehran’s behavior by gutting its oil revenue and isolating the country globally.

“Our goal is to increase pressure on the Iranian regime by reducing to zero its revenue on crude-oil sales,” said Brian Hook, the State Department’s director of policy planning, at a briefing with reporters.

He also suggested, however, that there would be some wiggle room to allow some countries that import Iranian oil to avoid immediate sanctions, once they are set to be re-imposed come November 4.

“We are prepared to work with countries that are reducing their imports on a case-by-case basis, but as with our other sanctions, we are not looking to grant waivers or licenses,” Hook said, in comments that were seen as a softening of the United States’ prior demands.

Iran is OPEC’s second-largest crude exporter with more than 2 million barrels a day.

Rouhani has asserted that Iran will not buckle under US pressure and urged dialogue to resolve the differences between the nations.

“Iran’s logic has not changed, one party without logic has left the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action with the goal of putting pressure on the Iranian nation,” he said Tuesday.

“We told all our foreign parties that if they speak to the Iranian nation with the language of logic and respect, then we can get problems solved… and that threats, pressure and humiliation will never work against the people of Iran,” he said.

Notable countries that import Iranian crude include Turkey, India, China and South Korea.

Since a US State Department official first told reporters on June 26 that the US was preparing to ask allies to cut their oil imports from Iran, the price of US crude jumped more than 8 percent.

Trump subsequently expressed concern about oil prices last week, announcing in a tweet that he and King Salman of Saudi Arabia had agreed to raise daily oil production by 2 million barrels.

Rouhani: Europe's proposals aren't good enough

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/248509

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani told French President Emmanuel Macron on Thursday that Europe’s package of economic measures to offset the U.S. pullout from the nuclear deal does not go far enough, Reuters reported.

“The package proposed by Europe ... does not meet all our demands,” Rouhani was quoted as saying.

Rouhani said Tehran was hopeful that the issue could be addressed when foreign ministers from the five remaining signatories of the nuclear deal meet Iranian officials in Vienna on Friday.

The Iranian President made similar comments in a conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, telling her the European package is "disappointing".

"Unfortunately the proposed package lacked an action plan or a clear roadmap for continuation of cooperation. It only included some general promises like previous EU statements," Rouhani was quoted as saying.

In May, U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the 2015 deal under which sanctions on Iran were lifted in return for curbs to its nuclear program. Washington has since told countries they must stop buying Iranian oil from November 4 or face financial measures.

European signatories to the deal are trying to save the accord, which they see as crucial to forestalling an Iranian nuclear weapon.

Rouhani warned on Wednesday his country could reduce its co-operation with the UN nuclear watchdog in the wake of the fresh U.S. sanctions against Iranian oil sales.

“Iran’s nuclear activities have always been for peaceful purposes, but it is Iran that would decide on its level of cooperation with the IAEA,” he told Yukiya Amano, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna.

“The responsibility for the change of Iran’s cooperation level with the IAEA falls on those who have created this new situation,” he added.

 

[alsughasoughaiuyfygh]

Report: Russian airstrikes creep toward Golan, rebels reject surrender

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/R...p-toward-Golan-rebels-reject-surrender-561734

Residents in southern Syria reported an increasing crescendo of air strikes they alleged were by Russian aircraft on Thursday, a day after the Syrian rebels in the south walked away from surrender negotiations.

Since mid-June, the Syrian regime and its Russian ally have swept the rebels from a swath of territory, pushing them towards the Jordanian border and Israel’s Golan Heights.

More than 300,000 people have fled the advance. The Syrian regime and Russian air force have been careful not to carry out air strikes within 10 km. of the 1974 cease-fire line on the Golan.

On Wednesday, the Syrian rebels said they walked away from negotiations with Russia about a ceasefire. The rebels said they had come to discuss a cease fire but found themselves presented with “humiliating” terms, including that they hand over their weapons and stop fighting. The rebels in southern Syria met the Russian delegation in an undisclosed town in southern Syria somewhere near Dara’a.

Dara’a is one of the main cities that the Syrian rebellion began in during the 2011 Arab Spring and it therefore holds special significance. It is also just a few kilometers from the Jordanian border. Although the rebels have been chased out of many towns and villages in the last weeks, they have held on to part of Dara’a and a corridor that runs along the Jordanian border and then up towards the Golan.

After the rebels rejected what amounted to surrender terms the air strikes by Russia and the Syrian regime increased dramatically Thursday.

Of special importance is the town of Tafas, which links the rebel areas near the Golan with the areas near Jordan. It was hit by “tens of airs trikes” according to residents. Rumors online have indicated that Russia is playing a central role in what comes next.

This is partly because Russia is a party to the cease fire in the south with the US and Jordan. It is also because Russian President Vladimir Putin is supposed to meet US President Donald Trump this month and has also invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Moscow. Any deal in the south could see the deployment of Russian observers as has happened in north Syria.

Jordan wants the fighting to stop as hundreds of thousands of refugees are now at the country’s border and the UN has pressured Amman to open it. Amman has said it won’t allow more refugees in, as it already hosts around a million people who have fled conflict in the region.

Israel must put an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/22409

Anyone following the ongoing saga of violence in the Gaza region in recent weeks – and even years – can see a common theme which keeps re-appearing – the reluctance of the Israeli Government and/or army to take decisive action to solve the problem of constant attacks against Israel and its citizens from Gaza.

But why this reluctance?

For years, the ‘dribble’ of rockets fired from Gaza was tolerated. When in 2008-09 and 2012, the intensity increased, the government finally ordered the defence forces to take action – with precision attacks on rockets and launchers, often preceded by warnings to nearby civilians to move out the way. However, weapons in and on hospitals, or where no warnings could be delivered, were spared.

When tunnels dug under Israel’s border, deep into Israeli territory, were discovered, it was allegedly only after Naftali Bennett’s arm-twisting of fellow ministers (and the Prime Minister) that the cabinet finally agreed to take action against them – and then it was done in a rush before a cease-fire came into effect.

Now we have the phenomenon of arson kites and balloons. And what is Israel’s reaction? As Arutz Sheva reported on June 17 towards the beginning of the phenomenon, ‘IDF attacks vehicle of head of kite terror squad’. However, the IDF obviously knew that the car’s owner was nowhere near his car.

In a later article, Arutz Sheva reported ‘IDF fires at terrorists launching arson balloons’. The article clarified by quoting the IDF as saying that “an IDF aircraft fired shots near a group of Palestinians who launched arson balloons in the southern Gaza Strip.”

The reason for these deliberate ‘near misses’ was made clear by a following article, ‘Ministers demand kite terrorists be killed - but IDF opposed’.

Whether the lack of action is due to the army, as the article claims, or decisions of the Government, which is more likely in previous times, the inability to ‘solve the problem’ stems from an inability to recognise what the problem is.

We are told umpteen times by Government and military spokesmen that Gaza is ruled by Hamas, a ‘terrorist’ organisation. They talk of ‘terror’ targets, ‘terror’ rockets, ‘terror’ tunnels and now we have ‘terror’ kites and ‘terror’ balloons.

But what is ‘terror’ anyway? With this obsession in branding everything in Gaza as ‘terror’ they are ignoring the fact that the leadership of Gaza is actually conducting not terrorism but … a war.

Gaza is, for all intents and purposes, a regime, with its own government and a military force. And ironically, the Israeli government wants it that way so it has someone it can hold accountable, and because the only viable alternative is a return to so-called Israeli ‘occupation’ which the government has made clear is the only option not on the table - and would only be achieved at a great cost in Israeli lives..

When a state imports and builds rockets, fires them at a neighbouring country, builds tunnels into its territory and does whatever it can to burn and destroy that neighbour, most rational people would call that waging a war.

But recognising that you are at war means you actually have to fight like you’re at war. You have to fight to win. Winning means destroying the enemy who is attacking you, or at least putting him in a position where he can no longer attack you. That means putting an end to the Hamas regime in Gaza.

And because that’s the last thing the Israeli Government wants, the ongoing tit-for-tat “anti-terrorist” operations will continue.

Until the Government’s cost-benefit analysis shows that a new policy is needed.

Three minor earthquakes hit Israel, serious one only a matter of time

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/T...rael-serious-one-only-a-matter-of-time-561773

A bigger earthquake than those felt by Israelis over the past couple of days is sure to come – and Israelis should be ready for power outages and if necessary to leave their homes. So warned Amotz Agnon, professor at the Institute of Earth Sciences at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem on Thursday.

In an interview conducted by the Israel Project, Agnon said that the “when, how bad and where” are not clear, but additional and more severe earthquakes are sure to come.

Israelis have felt three earthquakes over the past two days; additional ones were recorded by instruments of the Geophysical Institute of Israel.

On Thursday an earthquake measuring 3.2 on the Richter scale was reported in the cities of Tiberias and Safed in northern Israel. On Wednesday night Haifa and Western Galilee region residents felt a quake measuring 4.5, and earlier Wednesday, residents of the same region felt a tremor placed at 4.1 on the Richter scale. No damage or injuries were reported.

“We had such a small crisis in about the same place [as the recent quakes] five years ago in the north-western part of the Sea of Galilee, which is a hot spot that generates more friction. But we cannot tell you if it will deteriorate or give rise to a devastating event – or if it’s just another one of these episodes that happens about once every ten years,” he said.

“We are sitting on a place that has generated earthquakes in the past... they are centered on this belt which we call a plate boundary or rift – the Dead Sea rift – and it has generated in the geological past and even in the historical past, earthquakes that were very devastating,” he noted, referring to the 1837 magnitude-6.5 earthquake which struck the Galilee, killing an estimated 6,000 to 7,000 people.

Asked how civilians can prepare for a more serious earthquake, Agnon recommended that they stock up on items such as torches, batteries and portable stoves in preparation for a few days without electricity, gas and water. People should also find out if the buildings they live in would be safe in the event of an earthquake. In addition, he recommends that parents educate their children about what to do in case of an emergency.

Geologist Dr. Ariel Hyman told Walla News on Thursday that there is a big chance of a strong earthquake hitting Israel and that hundreds of people are likely to die in such a situation.

WHILE EARTHQUAKES in the region tend to be small, it is not – as mentioned by Agnon – immune to larger and deadlier quakes.

In 1927, for example, an earthquake measuring 6.2 on the Richter scale shook the Holy Land. The epicenter was in the northern part of the Dead Sea, inflicting most of the damage on Jericho, Jerusalem, Tiberias and Nablus. More than 500 people were killed and 700 were injured. The Aksa Mosque on the Temple Mount and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre sustained significant damage; the tower of the Augusta Victoria Hospital on Mount Scopus collapsed.

A 2016 report by Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee’s Home-Front Readiness Subcommittee found that if Israel were to be struck by a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, an estimated 7,000 people would be killed, another 8,600 injured and 377,000 would be left homeless. In addition, the country could face damages of up to NIS 200 billion.

In addition to buildings being destroyed, the damage to critical infrastructures such as electricity, water and communication is expected to be great. According to Israel’s National Emergency Authority, there are 80,000 buildings, including schools and hospitals, over three stories high that were built before 1980, and therefore not constructed to current standards.

Since the complication of the report, several steps have been taken to improve the country’s readiness.

Last May, the government announced that Canadian company Nanometrics had been selected to install an early- warning earthquake system in the Dead Sea Valley, the Jordan Valley and the Haifa area – all earthquake-prone regions. At the same time, Israel’s Geophysical Institute said it was upgrading all of its seismic systems.

Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman noted Thursday that last year his ministry carried out the biggest drill in preparation for an earthquake and “learned many lessons, one of which was the need for a multi-year defense plan for the home front and especially for the north.” This month, he said, he would present it to the cabinet and is confident that the plan, which addresses threats posed by both war and earthquakes, will receive the green light.

The big question is whether it will be implemented in time.